Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei named Ayatollah Mahmoud Hashemi Shahroudi as the new chief of the arbitration body — known as the Expediency Council — for the next five years, Iranian state TV reported.
Shahroudi replaces the influential former president Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani who died in January after heading the council for more than 27 years. Since February, ayatollah Mohammad Ali Movahedi Kermani had acted as a temporary chief of the council.
Shahroudi served as the chief of the Iranian Judiciary for 10 years, from 1999 to 2009.
Khamenei also added six new members to the council, including the armed forces' chief-of-staff, Gen. Mohammad Hossein Bagheri, hard-line cleric Ebrahim Raisi and outgoing Tehran Mayor Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf.
The council's main responsibility is to resolve differences between the country's parliament and the Guardian Council, Iran's constitutional watchdog.
